Many useful applications are based on the transmission of wireless pulses. Examples include radar detection using transmitted and reflected pulsed microwave signals as well as medical ablation procedures that use pulsed microwave to ablate targeted body tissues.
The U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/171,750 filed on Feb. 3, 2014, for Ossia, Inc., which is hereby fully incorporated, covered a transmitter that optimizes the delivery of wireless power to a plurality of receivers. In transmitting power wirelessly, phased array transmitters are used to direct the Radio Frequency (RF) power.
The transmission efficiency of a phased array transmitter is proportional to the number of antennae in the array. To transmit at high efficiency using, for example, a 2.4 GHz signal at a distance of 5 meters, one would theoretically need about 1 million antennae in the array to reach efficiencies greater than 90%. However, placing 1 million antennae within more or less the same distance of 5 meters from the target is a challenge. Each antenna needs its own volume of space to prevent it from directly coupling with neighboring antennae, and therefore, the size of the array could become several times larger than the 5-meter distance. Moreover, the efficiency would also disappear as the array would grow and most of the antennae would be outside the 5-meter range. As such, there is a need for a means of decreasing the size of an array while overcoming the constraints induced by antennae proximity.
A means of decreasing the size of an array while overcoming the constraints induced by antennae proximity is incorporated in the embodiments of this invention.